Why University 1?

Master the Art of University Learning

Students' experiences during their first year at a university
lay the foundation for their entire undergraduate career. This
foundation encompasses and addresses the hopes, dreams, fears, and
expectations that can lead to successful lives as students and
citizens. Freshman, transfer, and reentry students should take
University 1 during the first semester they enroll. Students taking
the course earn 3 units of elective credit while acquiring the
techniques necessary for a meaningful and successful college
experience.

Student Persistence in Higher Education

National statistics indicate that about 40% of entering college
students will leave the higher education system without earning any
type of college degree. Attrition rates are alarmingly high for
certain minority groups, with some studies showing only one of
seven African-American students, one of ten Hispanic students
reaching senior status in four years. Almost half of all students
who leave college will drop out during their freshman year, often
during the first few months of their first semester.

Freshmen Orientation Programs Promote Student Retention

A well-established body of research supports that freshman
orientation programs promote student retention, especially when
offered as a full-semester academic course for beginning freshmen.
The University of South Carolina has collected data for over two
decades that has found that not only do participants in a freshman
seminar course show higher sophomore retention rates, but they also
are more likely to persist to graduation.The National Resource
Center for the Freshman Year Experience and Students in Transition
(University of South Carolina) reports that 72% of institutions of
higher learning in the United States offer some type of first-year
orientation course.

Student Concerns in the First Year

Students who withdraw in the first semester often give reasons
that fall into one of three categories:

Feelings of being unprepared academically

Feelings of being unprepared emotionally (homesickness, lack
of friends)

Financial and/or family responsibilities

The stress first-year students face is related to a disruption
of routines, role expectations and priorities in their lives that
were well ingrained prior to the college experience. Students
identified making new friends, getting good grades, planning for
the future, managing time and learning to be on one’s own as
the highest priority concerns during their first year of college.
College success is clearly a multi-dimensional phenomenon and must
include successful outcomes in many areas.